Keyboard Qwerty Created Hit Metal Layout Computer Letters

Early typewriters had keyboards where the letters were "arranged" (organized) alphabetically. This made it very easy for "typists" (people who type) to find letters on the keyboard, but it also created problems. Each time a typist hit a key, a long piece of metal moved upward to "strike" (hit) the paper. If the typist typed too quickly, pieces of metal that were next to each other would hit each other and "jam up" (get in the way so that a machine cannot work) the typewriter.

The QWERTY keyboard layout was created by Christopher Sholes in 1874 as a way to solve this problem. The QWERTY layout separates common "keystroke" (the act of pressing one key) combinations, so that the metal pieces were less likely to hit each other.

The QWERTY keyboard layout was also created to help salespeople sell more typewriters. When they needed to "demonstrate" (show how something works) the typewriter to a potential customer, they could type the word "typewriter" by using only keys on the top row, making it seem like it was very easy to type.

Of course, modern computers don't jam up, so it may seem strange that almost all Americans continue to use the "inefficient" (not working as well as something could or should) QWERTY keyboard layout. Several other, more efficient layouts have been created, but they are not very popular because so many people have already learned how to type on the QWERTY keyboard layout.